CLEVELAND, Ohio - The founder of an auction house has a message for J.R. Smith of the Cavs: If you want to sell your Game 1 jersey, you better do it right away.

That's because the jersey Smith wore during the end of the NBA Finals opener probably won't increase in value over time, says Josh Evans of New York-based Lelands Auctions.

After a missed free throw by George Hill left the game tied, Smith dribbled away the final seconds of regulation instead of taking a shot. The game went to overtime, and the Cavs lost a chance to steal a win on the road in the series opener.

So does notoriety from a misstep affect an item's value?

Evans says the jersey's value is at its highest point now, not years from now.

"Let's say that jersey was worth, from the championship series - an important game, a starting guy - that shirt is probably worth let's say somewhere around $5,000," he said. "Infamy is interesting, but it's not as good as fame. So depending on the event, it might increase it anywhere from two to 10 times. That's for fame. A shirt from a really famous event could be worth $50,000."

But, he said, an infamous event only might "double or even triple it."

The question to ask about whether a jersey, a ball or uniform connected with a big-game moment will gain in value is whether it has shelf life. Does it become "a long-term situation?" Evans said.

"That's the key to the whole thing," he said. "That's the mistake a people can make, they don't sell it when it happens. 'Let's go for (future) value'. That's not true. In a majority of cases it's worth the most right at the time."

Evans said Lelands sold the New England Patriots 'deflategate' ball for about $40,000. But over time, he said, that ball might be worth half now.

The other variable is what happens in the series and down the road: "In the long term it's not that big of a deal. It's not the last game. It's not Ralph Branca, it's not 'Havlicek stole the ball.' It's a blip."

In 1951, Brooklyn's Branca served up the Shot Heard 'Round the World to Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants, who had made an incredible late-season surge to win the pennant in a best-of-three playoff. Fourteen years later, in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between Boston and Philadelphia, John Havlicek stole an inbounds pass with seconds remaining to preserve the victory for the Celtics.

One infamous moment on a baseball diamond that has lasted more than 100 years in immortality, though, is Merkle's Boner, Evans said. Fred Merkle, in a September 1908 game against the Chicago Cubs, tried to advance on a single. But he failed to touch second base, thinking a teammate had scored from third. Subsequent scrutiny ruled the run did not count, the game was ruled a tie, and Fred Merkle became known as Bonehead.

"That was the one," Evans said. "We had that ball. We sold it many years ago, maybe 20 years ago, for $50,000. Today it would be $150,000."

But Evans likens Smith's Game 1 jersey to Chris Webber's moment in the waning seconds of the 1993 NCAA championship, when the forward called a timeout Michigan did not have against North Carolina.

"It would be a blip," he said. "It wouldn't be that big. A lot of things are becoming less and less interesting to people as time goes on.

"Things get pushed further and further back," Evans said. "Really iconic things stay in the forefront and get better and better, pass that second level of being immortal, like Babe Ruth's Called Shot."

That reference is to the Yankee slugger supposedly calling a home run in the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs.

"The smartest thing he can do is put that jersey for sale right now and sell it today, 'cause it's a big story today. In a week it's not that big of a deal. Those kind of mental mistakes happen. There's a billion of them."